Culpepper's Cannon (2 page)

Dunc took the paper from him. “Be careful—you don't want to ruin it.” They sat down on the lawn.

“What do you suppose it is?” Amos asked.

“I don't know yet.” Dunc unfolded it carefully. Little bits and pieces broke off and blew away in the breeze. “There's writing on it.”

“What's it say?”

“I'm not sure. It's pretty faded.” They both leaned over it. The writing was thin and gray and just barely visible.

“Maybe it tells where some money is,”
Amos said, “or maybe it describes a murderer. Maybe—”

“Shush. Let me read this.” Dunc bent over the paper farther until his nose was almost touching it. “ ‘Look out for Bremish,” ' he read aloud. “ ‘He'll kill us if he gets a chance. The time portal is at the southwest corner of the plaza. When you go through, don't forget “gazebo.” I think you only get one chance, and if it closes on you, you're stuck here forever.” ' He looked up at Amos. “That's it.”

“Time portal?”

“That's what it says.”

“I wonder what it means?”

“A time portal might be like a hole in time.”

“A time hole?”

“Yeah.”

“That's crazy. This must be some kind of a joke.”

“I don't know,” Dunc said. “This paper's awfully old. When this was written, they probably didn't know about time portals.”

“They must have. The guy who wrote this did, anyway.”

“Maybe that's because the guy who wrote this came from the future.”

“No way. I don't believe it.” Amos rubbed his forehead again. “Is it signed?”

Dunc looked down at the paper. “There's a
D
, but the rest of the signature was on the corner you broke off.”

“Who's Bremish?”

“You got me.”

“Why do you suppose he was after whoever wrote the note?”

“I don't know. Maybe they stole something from him. Maybe they stole something valuable.”

“What do you suppose it was?”

“I don't know.”

Amos rubbed his forehead thoughtfully. “If there is a time hole, where do you suppose it is? Where was this plaza?”

Dunc looked up at Amos. His eyes were gleaming. “There's only one way to find out.”

Amos leaned back away from Dunc. “You've got that look,” he said.

“What look?”

“Come on, Dunc, don't do this to me. I've got to write a paper.”

“It won't take long. We'll just go down to the library and find out where this plaza was, then we'll go to whatever is there now. It'll only take a couple of minutes.”

“Then you do it yourself. I've got to write a paper.”

“Maybe what they took from Bremish will still be at the plaza. Maybe it will help you with your paper.”

“I don't care. Every time we do something like this, I get into trouble.”

“Maybe it's something valuable. Maybe it's treasure. There's no better way to impress a girl than with treasure.”

Amos looked at him, suddenly interested. “Really?”

“Really.” Dunc leaned back and studied Amos carefully, the way a cobra might study a bird just before it struck. “I wonder what kind of treasure a girl like Melissa would be impressed by?”

But it was overkill. Amos was already on his feet. “What are you waiting for?” he asked. “Let's go find this plaza.”

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“No. Absolutely not. I will not go in there.” Amos was standing in front of La Petite, a women's clothing store. He looked at Dunc.

“Come on, Amos,” Dunc said. “The old maps at the library said this is where the southwest corner of the plaza was. We have to go in there.”

“I thought it said southeast. If it said southeast, maybe it's in the sporting goods store across the street.”

“No. It was southwest. You can never remember directions. We have to go in here.”

“No, we don't. This is all somebody's idea of a sick joke. I'm not going in there.”

“Why not? What's so bad about a women's clothing store?”

“This isn't just a women's clothing store. This is Melissa's favorite women's clothing store. What if she sees me in there? She'll think I'm weird or something.”

“Why is that weird?”

“A guy buying women's clothing isn't weird?”

“Look, if she sees you, just tell her you're buying something for your mother.”

“No.”

“Then tell her you're buying something for her.”

“Why would I be buying something for her?”

“Tell her you thought it was her birthday, and you're getting her a sweater. She'll like that.”

Amos looked through the front window of the store. An older woman was looking at stockings, and a sales clerk was helping her. He looked back at Dunc. “You really think so?”

“Do you know anyone who isn't impressed by presents?”

“You might be right, but I can't afford a sweater.”

“Buy it with the treasure we find.”

Amos looked through the window again and was silent for a moment. “All right. But just a couple of minutes. If we don't find this hole right away, we're leaving.”

“Portal. The word is
portal
.”

“I like
hole
. It's more descriptive. And if we don't find it right away, we're leaving.”

“All right.” Dunc held the door open, and Amos went in in front of him.

The air in the store was air-conditioned cool and had a thick, scented smell that caught in Amos's throat. He looked around the store. There were dresses and skirts and blouses and underthings he felt embarrassed looking at. He didn't see any holes. “Nothing,” he said. “Let's go.”

“Not yet,” Dunc said. “It should be in the back corner. Let's go have a look.”

Dunc led Amos to the back of the store. There was a rack of women's jeans and a table covered with thick sweaters. Dunc pointed. “There,” he said. “It has to be in there.”

“No. If it's in there, I want to forget the whole thing.” Dunc was pointing at a women's changing room.

“We have to,” Dunc said. “We've come this far.” He looked around the store. When he looked back at him, Amos could see that gleam in his eye again. “You're going to have to try something on.”

“Me? Why me?”

“Because you look more like someone who would try on women's clothing than I do.”

Amos looked at Dunc. “What's that supposed to mean?”

“I don't mean anything bad. I mean you look more sensitive, like you would go to greater lengths to make sure a sweater fit a girl right before you bought it. Melissa is closer to your size than she is to mine.”

“Oh. That's what I thought you meant.” He sighed deeply. “All right, I'll do it, but don't let anyone see me.”

“I won't.” Dunc tried to open the dressing-room door. It was locked. “We'll have to get help from the clerk. Grab a sweater. Make sure it's one Melissa would like.”
Amos took a pink one, then decided against it. He reached for a thick green one with a collar and followed Dunc up to the checkout counter.

The clerk had finished with the older woman and was standing at the counter writing something on a piece of paper. When Dunc and Amos approached him he looked up. He was a tall, thin man with a name tag that said
Ramone
and a nose that hooked down almost to his chin. His hair was so heavily hairsprayed, it looked hard enough to play a good game of basketball on.

“Can I help you?” His voice was high and whiny, and when he spoke, his Adam's apple jumped up at least two inches.

“My friend here would like to try on this sweater,” Dunc said.

“Your friend would like to try on this sweater?” Ramone looked coldly at Amos, and Amos felt his face turn red. “Why would your friend like to try on a women's sweater?”

“It's a gift,” Dunc said.

“A gift for a girl?” Ramone asked.

“Of course it's for a girl,” Amos said.

“Just checking.” Ramone chuckled. When he chuckled, his Adam's apple moved up and down so violently, Amos thought it would bruise the bottom of his chin. “Let me get the key.” He reached into a drawer and took out a key on the end of a large slab of wood. He led them back through the store toward the dressing room.

“There you are,” Ramone said, unlocking the door. “I trust you won't be needing any help?”

“I don't think so,” Amos said.

“Good.” Ramone chuckled again. He walked back toward the checkout counter, straightening the racks of dresses as he went. Dunc and Amos went into the dressing room.

The room was small, with a single bulb overhead and three walls covered with mirrors. There was no sign of a hole or anything that might even resemble one.

“So do we have everything?” Dunc asked.

“Everything for what?”

“Time travel.”

“Do you know what we need to travel through time?”

“No.”

“Then why are you asking such a stupid question?” Amos was getting mad about the whole situation. “The only thing I brought was a notebook, and I only brought that because you said I'd need it.”

“Notes for your paper.”

“Right. Notes for my paper.” Amos looked at Dunc. “So now what do we do?”

“It has to be here. There's no other place it could be.”

“Well, I don't see anything.”

“Of course not. Do you think if you could see it people wouldn't know about it?”

“So what do we do?”

“I don't know.” Dunc stood with his hands on his hips. He chewed on his lower lip thoughtfully.

“You know, this isn't a bad-looking sweater,” Amos said. “I wonder if Melissa would like it. Here, hang on to this.” He handed his notebook to Dunc and started to pull his sweatshirt off over his head.

“What are you doing?”

“Trying on this sweater. You said I was closer to Melissa's size than you were.”

“We didn't come in here to try on sweaters.”

“Well, we might as well do something useful.”

Dunc ignored him. “There must be something we're missing.”

Amos had his shirt pulled halfway over his head. “Wasn't there something about a gazelle?”

“No,
gazelle
wasn't the word. What was it?” He reached into his back pocket for the paper. It was in considerably worse condition than it had been before.

“Hey, can you help me with this?” Amos still had his sweatshirt halfway over his head. He was having difficulty taking it off in the small confines of the room.

“ ‘Look out for Bremish. He'll kill us if he gets a chance,” ' Dunc read, ignoring Amos again. “ ‘The time portal is at the southwest corner of the plaza. When you go through, don't forget “gazebo”—” '

When he said the word
gazebo
, the mirror
on the right-hand wall began to throb with a glowing yellow light. It made a sound like a heart pumping and it pulsated three times, stopped, and pulsated three times again.

“Do you see that?” Dunc almost yelled. “Do you see that?”

“See what?” Amos's sweatshirt was still over his head. He couldn't see anything.

“It's here, it's right here!” Dunc reached out to touch the mirror. His hand went through it as if nothing were there. A moment later, he stepped through and was gone. The pulsating light and the sound of the heart stopped. The mirror was a mirror again.

“Come on, Dunc, help me with this shirt. And quit ignoring me. What do you mean it's here? And what does gazebo have to do with anything?” At the word
gazebo
, the heart sound started again, and the yellow light started pulsating. It had only two beats this time, but Amos couldn't see that.

“Come on, Dunc, help me with this shirt.” He started banging against the walls
to find Dunc. When he tried moving to the right, he found there wasn't a wall there. A moment later, the mirror was just a mirror and the dressing room was empty again.

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